Notable Quotables (in their own words)

“Many Legislators would rather get re-elected than make the right decision. They say they’re not going to raise taxes but they’re going to allow us to raise tuition.”

“Federal revenue for higher education is double what the states are doing now. I don’t have faith in legislators but I do have faith in them wanting federal money.”

“The power of Washington to hold states accountable may be the most important answer that we have. The more federal dollars are attached to state behavior, the less likely state legislatures are going to remove themselves from funding responsibility.”

—F. King Alexander, President of University of California Long Beach and more recently LSU President-designate, speaking on “Strategies for Fiscal Housekeeping” at the 14th Annual Travers Conference on Ethics and Accountability in Government Financing California, Feb. 11, 2011.

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2 Responses

We have to hope Dr. Alexander has done his homework about the state of affairs in Louisiana in the 2 years since he made this speech.

Can you say “Medicaid”, Dr. Alexander? Our legislature seems to be happy to roll over and play dead while the governor refuses hundreds of millions in federal dollars there. It’s hard to say how he feels about federal funds for higher education, but to the extent the federal strings to which you refer are inconsistent with his ideology/national profile, it’s pretty likely he has no problem turning them down, too.

Once you get here you, like your predecessors, will find Louisiana legislators may be a tad different in their methods of re-election. They do what the governor wants them to do no matter what effect it has on their constituents because they see that as their route to re-election. They also avoid individual accountability that way. This specifically includes looking the other way as tuition increases replace state support.

The only way you will last here is if you’re good at puckering up to osculate the posteriors of our chief executive and his minions. Then you can move on to the legislators if you’re not worn out.

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